Global Food Prices Rising

Austin Bay explores some of the reasons why. One fundamental issue, maybe the most important one, is that most governments can’t resist meddling in the farm economy. Ethanol is also a big part of the problem. Whatever you think of ethanol–and lots of people here in the Midwest think it’s terrific, especially for the local economy–it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that we picked a bad time to start burning a big chunk of our biggest crop.